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An underground fire is still burning more than a year after it was discovered in a disused Tyneside mine - and experts say they have no idea how long it will keep going for.

Firefighters were called to the site of Keelman’s Way, near Ryton Golf Club, in February 2015 after reports of smouldering.

Experts believe a fire is burning in the former Clara Vale mine workings and it is thought two former ponds filled with spoil and aggregates from the mine could be the source.

When the blaze was first discovered, a public footpath at Keelman’s Way was closed, with firefighters fearing the subterranean fire could cause land to collapse and trees to fall.

Now, more than a year after it was located, the path remains shut off from the public.

A spokesperson for Gateshead Council said: “There are still little pockets of fire smouldering underground, but work was carried out to ensure that the fire did not spread any further. This involved putting down thousands of tons of clay to smother the fire.

Ryton Golf club at Clara Vale and its smouldering fourth fairway

“The whole area has been fenced off and the Keelman’s Way path has been diverted, so there is no danger to the public. The site is being monitored regularly.”

Firefighters said underground fires are a rare occurrence that are generally caused by either a coal seam or mix of aggregates and spoil from the coal heap.

The National Coal board believe it is unlikely to be a coal seam, and an Ordnance Survey map from the 1940s revealed the fire started where there used to be two large ponds that have been back filled.

The fire on Keelman’s Way is similar to one that started at the site of Watergate Park - formerly Watergate Colliery - in 1993.

That blaze lasted for two years.

Geologists have proved a lightning strike to a coal seam in Australia triggered a fire that is still burning 5,000 years after the incident, and in Ohio, USA, a fire in a coal seam that started in 1884 is still burning.